markets THE price of copper on international markets has risen by $147.75 and is now trading at $5,804.75 a tonne, according to Cavmont Bank Zambia daily market report.

But metal market analysts elsewhere have predicted that copper prices may rise to $10,000 a tonne by year-end.

However, after a brief boom there are fears that copper prices would decline and may even plunge below the $2,000 a tonne level by 2017.

Analysts attributed persistent fall in copper futures to weak global trend and subdued demand in the domestic spot market. Cavmont has also reported that the price of oil also marginally rose by $1.71 and is now selling at $50.99 a barrel while that of gold went up by $8.06 and is now trading at $1,216.62 an ounce.

Thursday’s trading session saw the Kwacha manage to make some positive movements against the green back as the local unit recorded a marginal appreciation of 0.71 per cent (K0.05) to touch intra-day highs of K6.940 / K6.960 compared to the day’s opening levels.

On the local scene, the bank reports that the Kwacha has tracked a basket of currencies which have generally performed well against the world’s reserve currency in recent days amidst improved dollar supply from corporate sellers.

As at close of market, the Kwacha was trading at K6.930/K6.950 and this was K0.06 stronger when compared to the previous day’s closing rate.

Commercial banks’ aggregate current account balance increased by K77.17 million to K1,024.85 million while the cost for Interbank borrowing and lending increased by 0.03 percent to 12.46 per cent.